


Fusion Dance

by Archaeopteryx



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character, Other, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 10:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3485525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archaeopteryx/pseuds/Archaeopteryx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Product of a last-ditch attempt at survival by two badly wounded Gems, the newly-created Garnet tries to navigate the relationships and memories ey has inherited, while eir friends and companions struggle to adjust to their new old, unfamiliar familiar teammate.</p>
<p>Garnet can fight just fine. It's eir teammates that terrify em.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fusion Dance

**Author's Note:**

> Don't mind Pyrope and Andradite -- they're gone after this. They just need to exist.
> 
> Pyrope and andradite are both species of garnet. Pyrope is the best-known red garnet variety, while andradite comes in a variety of colors, one of which (also called melanite) is black; the two main colors in our Garnet's design.
> 
> I find the theory that Garnet is a permanent fusion pretty compelling, and I've written a couple of things to that effect.

The blast hurled them apart, volcanic heat and shrapnel spewing from the ground. Andradite barely held eir form together as ey skidded to a stop in the earth, rolling over and propping emself up on sheer stubbornness and the shock of impact. One arm had been mostly destroyed, the shoulder along with it, and the world looked strangely flat — half eir face was gone, too, and one eye with it.

Ey glitched, and collapsed, eir surviving arm suddenly not where it should be. With desperate effort, ey held up eir hand, struggling to focus on the gem in eir palm. A crack shot down its center, almost completely dividing it in two. Bad, ey thought blearily. Very, very bad.

Across the battlefield, Pyrope struggled to eir knees. Even at this distance, it was plain that ey, too, had lost an arm, and a significant portion of eir leg on that side. Eir form buzzed and twitched with static, the damage plainly more than superficial. Andradite grit eir teeth, and began to crawl. After a moment of searching, Pyrope spotted em, and began to do the same.

They met halfway, exhausted and in pain, and for a moment they could only clasp hands, pressing their Gems together. The battle proper had moved on, the artillery redirected towards the active fighting. Only a few straggling soldiers posed a threat, and those Gems were preoccupied with the ones still active, not a damaged pair barely able to move, let alone stand.

“We’re dying,” said Andradite. Pyrope nodded silently. Between them lay security and softness, the quiet understanding that they had chosen this path together. Another glitch shook Andradite, and ey jerked, barely managing to keep all eir parts in place. The crack in eir Gem deepened.

“Fuse with me,” said Pyrope.

Exhausted, Andradite still somehow managed surprise. “What?”

“Fu — zzzhion.” A glitch buzzed in Pyrope’s voice. “Separate — we die. Together … ”

Andradite understood.

“We’ll never separate,” ey said quietly. Even if their fusion held, the damage to their Gems would never heal. Some Gems counted that loss of identity to be the same as death. Andradite had never been among them.

“O — kkkhhay.” Pyrope shuddered. “I’d — sshhzztay — with you.”

“Will this work?”

Pyrope smiled, a thin expression broken by the next glitch that shook em. “Trust me.”

Andradite bunched eir shoulders and dragged emself to eir feet, somehow mustering the strength to pull Pyrope up after em. Eir partner, unbalanced by eir missing leg, leaned heavily against em. No time for a flashy fusion dance, but after the centuries they’d spent together, they didn’t need one. Hands still clasped tightly, foreheads pressed together, they began to sway, matching each other’s bodies and a tempo set by music neither of them heard. Eyes closed, neither of them noticed the moment when their Gems began to glow, Andradite’s blue blending with Pyrope’s red.

Garnet blinked down at the scarred battlefield earth, puzzled by the sudden shift in perspective. Putting a hand to their face, they realized why; besides the added height, a third eye sat above and between the usual two. They stretched, rolling their shoulders, unused to having only two arms — the sum, of course, of their components, but strange nonetheless. After a moment of thought, they concentrated, and a reflective visor materialized in their hands. They were still within plausible height for a singular Gem, and they might as well hide their advantage while they could.

They flexed their hands, grinning as a pair of heavy gauntlets buzzed into existence around them, and strode off to rejoin the battle, alone, together.


End file.
